susan rice is a long-time friend and ally of the president whose name was floated very early on as a favorite for secretary of state. ultimately, though, before anybody was nominated for the position, the white house sort of backed down from the prospect of nominating her. they allowed her to take her name out of the running when republicans attacked her for the grave, grave crime of saying something wrong on sunday morning talk shows. something that by the way turned out to be mostly correct. but never mind, they criticized her anyway, and the white house did not back her up in the face of that criticism, and her name was removed from consideration. now, faced with another high profile nominee who has attracted loud republican nomination, this time it appears the white house is not backing down. this time president obama has officially nominated chuck hagel to be secretary of defense as of today. interestingly, another potential nominee for a big high profile national security job for this white house who president obama reportedly initially wanted, but who also backed off from was